Korea Time!

So this was my first time setting foot in Korea. Anna and I arrived on Nov. 1st, after an excellent Halloween. Nov. 1st was a Sunday. Tuesday was a National Holiday in Japan (National Sports and Fitness Day I think)...so I only had to take one day off (Monday) to enjoy this mini-Holiday. 3 days, and 2 Nights in Pusan, South Korea. Or Busan. Pusan/Busan. I think its Busan, and only Pusan in the U.S. Anyways, it was a great trip, and I'm definitely hoping to go back! I can't wait to see Seoul, and more Busan, and everything in-between!

We took a fast fast ferry. Usually it takes a very long time to get to Korea by boat, so many people take a "night ferry"...But our boat "The BEETLE" is very new, and very technologically advanced. It got us from Fukuoka to Busan in 2 hours and 55 minutes.

Here is a quote from the Beetle website: "At the front and back, the Beetle is equipped with two hydrofoils, which lift the hull of the moving vessel from the water surface (foil-borne). Since the ship moves above the water, it tends to avoid the influence of waves."

We arrived in Busan, got all settled in with our couchsurfing friend (where we stayed) and headed out to enjoy Korea. First stop: quench our hunger with a Burger, Fries, and REAL coffee on the beach (less than a block away from where we were staying).

We walked the beaches, cruised the shops, and searched desperately for a nail place. We had both been looking forward to pedicures, which do not exist in Japan (at least our area of Japan). But in Korea, most things were closed on Sunday. And by the time Monday and Tuesday rolled around, we had some serious shopping to be doing. We tried the Pedicure thing one more time, but its not like in America where there are 10 people waiting to help YOU. It was more like 1 lady with a 2 hour wait. Sigh....I guess I'll have to get my pedicure in good ole' Upland, California next month.

There were really cool statues, and pieces of art up all around the city like this. I can't put all the pictures up on this little blog, but this is just one example of a cool piece of art. A bronze Asgard just chilling in the middle of the bay. Okay, probably not an Asgard, but I can dream.

Every time we walked by a Japanese restaurant, we joked "LETS EAT THERE!!". Sorry Japanese food...you ain't got nothing on Korea. This is the sauce to the amazing Vietnamese dinner we had there the first night. The second night we had an amazing Thai meal. Besides that there was one meal at a bakery, and one at a Korean restaurant, but I wouldn't have called that real Korean. Why did we go to Korea and focus on Vietnamese and Thai? I guess its because there is one Korean restaurant in Hofu, but absolutely no Vietnamese or Thai, so we just had to jump on the opportunity.

The shopping was great. I got to work on my bargaining skills. Didn't buy as much as I wanted to...but I didn't bring enough money :( and only saw a useable ATM the last 2 hours that we were there. But I bought a lot of good stuff. Just not enough to spread around during Christmas. Watch me just go Christmas shopping on the 23rd in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. THAT'D be just like me.

Here was our last little meal before leaving. The only Korean place we ate at, and only had time for RICE. Is that really Korean? Well it was spicy. Spicy Rice=Good rice.

Gotta go back, I love Korea. LOVE KOREA! South. Don't worry.